1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information on and/or from an optical record medium such as optical card, optical disk and magneto-optic disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there have been proposed various kinds of apparatuses for recording and/or reproducing information on and/or from an optical record medium by projecting a writing or reading light beam onto the optical record medium.
In an optical card information recording and/or reproducing apparatus, after an optical card has been inserted into the apparatus, the optical card is moved over a given distance in a track direction which is parallel to a direction in which parallel information tracks formed on the optical card extend so that information is recorded and/or reproduced on and/or from a track, and then after the optical head has been moved in a direction perpendicular to the track direction, information is again recorded and/or reproduced in a track by moving the optical card in the track direction. In this manner, the information is recorded on the optical card or the information is reproduced from the optical card.
In the information recording and/or reproducing apparatus using the optical card, there is usually provided an optical card carrying means usually called a shuttle. FIGS. 1 and 2 are plan and front views illustrating the construction of a known shuttle. A shuttle 50 comprises a card receiving plate 52 having a recess 51 formed therein, a card holding plate 53, a card pushing plate 56 arranged in said recess 51 and a spring 55 inserted between the card receiving plate 52 and the card pushing plate 56. On a side wall of the card holding plate 52 there is secured a pin receptacle 58 which can receive a locking pin 57. The locking pin 57 is moved as shown by a double headed arrow A by a solenoid not shown. When the locking pin 57 is inserted into a hole 58a formed in the pin receptacle 58, the shuttle 50 is locked at a card loading position at which the optical card 54 is inserted into the shuttle. Usually the optical card is discharged from the shuttle at this position, but this position is termed as the card loading position for sake of simplicity. When an optical card 54 is inserted into the shuttle 50 in a direction shown by an arrow B in FIG. 1, a front edge of the optical card is inserted in a space formed between the card pushing plate 56 and the card holding plate 53, and the optical card 54 is resiliently urged against a rear surface of the card holding plate 53 by means of the spring 55 and card pushing plate 56. After the optical card 54 has been fully inserted into the shuttle 50, the locking pin 57 is removed from the hole 58a of the pin receptacle 58 and then the shuttle can be moved in the track direction C relative to an optical head 59 arranged above the shuttle. The optical head 59 is moved in a direction D perpendicular to the track direction C in order to index a desired track on the optical card 54.
Optical card carrying shuttle of the kind mentioned above in which the shuttle is mechanically locked when the optical card is inserted into the shuttle have been disclosed in various publications. For instance, the shuttle locking mechanism has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,258.
In the above mentioned shuttle, when the optical card is inserted into the shuttle, the shuttle is mechanically locked at the predetermined card loading position due to the following reason. FIGS. 3 and 4 show conditions of the shuttle when the optical card 54 is inserted into the shuttle 50. The card holding plate 53 is secured to the card receiving plate 52 and the card pushing plate 56 is urged against the card holding plate 53 by means of the spring 55. When the optical card 54 is inserted into the shuttle 50, a push roller 30a and guide roller 30b are moved downward and the card pushing plate 56 is pushed downward against the force of the spring 55 to form a space between the card pushing plate 56 and the card holding plate 53 as shown in FIG. 3. At the same time, the optical card 54 is clamped between the guide roller 60a and a feed roller 61, and is inserted into the space formed between the card pushing plate 56 and the card holding plate 53. In this case, the shuttle 50 is subjected to a force directing to the inserting direction of the optical card 54, and if the shuttle is freely moved in this direction, the optical card could not be correctly inserted into the shuttle due to a frictional force generated between the optical card 54 and the card holding plate 53 and card pushing plate 56. Therefore, the shuttle 50 has to be locked at the card loading position such that the optical card 54 can be inserted into the shuttle correctly. As depicted in FIG. 4, when the optical card 54 has been fully inserted into the shuttle 50 such that the front edge of the optical card is urged against an edge 53a of the card holding plate 53, an electrical switch not shown is made off and the locking pin 57 is removed from the pin receptacle 58. At the same time, the rollers 60a and 60b are moved upward. Then, the shuttle may be moved in the track direction C with respect to the optical head 59.
In the known optical card apparatus, there is provided only the locking mechanism for fixing the shuttle at the card loading position at which the optical card is inserted into the shuttle by inserting the locking pin into the receptacle secured to the shuttle, and after the optical card has been completely inserted into the shuttle, the locking pin is removed from the receptacle. However, if the operation for inserting the locking pin into the receptacle is not performed correctly due to the malfunction of the solenoid for driving the locking pin, the shuttle could not be locked at the card loading position, so that the optical card could not be correctly inserted into the shuttle and the recording and/or reproduction could not be performed correctly. A similar drawback occurs when the shuttle is not indexed into the card loading position when the solenoid is driven. Further, if the locking pin could not be removed from the receptacle after the optical card has been fully inserted into the shuttle due to the malfunction of the solenoid, the shuttle could not be moved in the track direction, and thus the recording and/or reproducing operation could not be carried out at all.